I have sent a copy of the summary to our travel agent extraordinaire BOC to ask his advice on how we can get this information to large numbers of agents and agencies. You may recall he has done speaking before groups of them before and so perhaps this could serve as talking points should he do so again. I will await his suggestions.

Also, early on Clint van Zandt was active in assisting the Holloways in Natalee's disappearance. He has a wonderful website dedicated to safety matters in general. There is a lengthy section on travel safety. I have written to him and asked for his assistance in getting this information to those in a position to issue a warning or prompt the consular to do so.

This is the website of VanZandt and the travel section is VERY complete with all sorts of helpful tips. Well worth taking a peek:

The fact that we were asked if we were working from a grant lets us know we are doing not only a good job but an effective one as well. MsMarple is fabulous with documentation and document formats and such as that and has prepared impressive presentation for us to use.

Just keep cranking out the information and like throwing jello on the wall, some of it is bound to stick and we will get the response we want. What I personally want is a travelers advisory or Aruba being forced to tell the truth about the crime rate there.

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.Recently there were congressional hearings on crime aboard cruise ships. Currently there is a bill proposed that would require every cruise ship that docks at a U.S. port to report crime fully and completely and truthfully.

This is just what we want from Aruba in regard to their crime! So I found the website of one of the two sponsors of the bill and wrote to Representative Shays and asked to send him the summary that we have and also for his advice on how we can get truthful information about crime in Aruba as well.

Will let you know what I hear back from him but meanwhile, here is information on his bill to help prevent crime aboard cruise ships. I think that is very close to resort areas.

If they just lie about the crime rate, we have no basis in reality on which to judge the safety of a foreign resort area. This is a practice that should not be tolerated and we as tourists have the right to have the truthful information on which to base our travel decisions rather than some propaganda manufactured by the tourist industry to deceive would-be travelers.

There is a form for sending him just a quick note to say you would like to see this done for resort areas as well if you care to do so.

Thanks,

Anna

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MsMarple,As an American I am rather proud and pleased with our country's crime stats for while any crime is too much crime, they are so much lower than many other places despite the fact that we count as a crime many things not counted in all countries participating in international surveys. Case in point would be the non-custodial parent taking a child being counted as kidnapping or abduction in this country while some others do not count it as much of anything.

Scotland and Britain both had higher crime rates than the U.S. in the last U.N. stats compiled by victims of all participating countries but we have been told so often for so long how violent this country is that it is difficult for even us to grasp that we just may not be the most violent in the world after all.

Thanks for the good analysis and comparison for it does put things into perspective. This is the point we set out to make when we started this project and we have now done so and found our conclusions to be accurate.

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This was in todays Solo di Pueblo. No murder statistics that I can tell. There were 3 I couldn't translate. The pictures are too big to post as they will blow the margins so I'm giving you the link to my translated and the original Dutch version:

Re. the above post by Klass re. crime stats on Aruba – here is the information from the table to which she links. No data is shown for some years … there are annotations or footnotes on the table, but we only have the table itself translated.

Recently there were congressional hearings on crime aboard cruise ships. Currently there is a bill proposed that would require every cruise ship that docks at a U.S. port to report crime fully and completely and truthfully.

This is just what we want from Aruba in regard to their crime! So I found the website of one of the two sponsors of the bill and wrote to Representative Shays and asked to send him the summary that we have and also for his advice on how we can get truthful information about crime in Aruba as well.

translation + Oranjestad. a boat from venezuela carry illegals(13 and 1 body) dropped off at the heights of Santana di Cachonear the country club called Nanki Country Club where the article states many venezuelans gathered.The polis were called and one of the illegals later gave info on the deceased so his family could be contacted. According to article the polis only claimed there were 5 illegals (not 13 from the boat).

A fishing tournament between friends ends tragically when one of the group falls into the water while leaning over the water fishing for bluecrabs.911 was called athat two people fell into the waters at Boca Prins.

Here is a translation of the 3 Diario articles from 9/25 (9/26?) - just the portions quoted in my post - courtesy of Getagrip !!! Thanks!

First article - still don't know what happened; must have been a drowning :

Smuggling people from Venezuela to Aruba continues. Saturday, once again, a person remained registered after a boat which originated in Venezuela let off a some illegal persons at the Dog Cemetary (santana di cacho) where they were able to get to solid ground behind the former Nanki Country Club.

The first reports that reached police in the early morning hours, after witnesses saw people coming into a car, and dropped off in the water at that place. This deals with more of less five people who reached solid ground.

Second article:Title: Tragic case in the sea at Boca Prins - Pascualito Geerman of Sombre (street name) drowned looking for crabs in the water

Fishing among friends came to an end when one of them fell in the water looking for crabs. The first reports that came in to 911 when a call came in that 2 people fell in the water at Boca Prins.

When firemen arrived with rescuing equipment, it turned out that indeed 2 people had fallen in the water, when already they lost one of them from sight and the other was able to get out by himself.

This person is Pascualito Geerman, born in Aruba, of 45 years of age, living at Sombre 2-A. San Nicolas Police, Search & Rescue, firemen, helicopter and Kustwacht (coast guard?) were involved in this whole rescue operation where Aruba Ports also coordinated with those present.

ORANJESTAD – The Openbaar Ministerie (District Attorney, OM) is currently working on a model allowing for standardized summonses, where special agents of the police will have a uniform system to register crimes and violations. Special agents do not fall under the Aruba Police Corps (KPA). They work in areas like the Department of Public Health. Whether the OM is also working on a standardized system for summonses for the “normal” police is unknown.

This past week there were discussions regarding the registering of crimes and violations in connection with the advertised drop in criminality, an advertisement based on statistics supplied by the OM. The police union disputed these figures, claiming that the number of crimes has actually risen recently.

The advertisement originated with the Ministry of Justice, wishing to show that criminality on Aruba has dropped. Last week the advertisement was placed in the papers on various days, showing a table of the most common crimes from 2003 through April 2006. The figures came from the OM. Spokesperson Mariaine Arends-Croes said the OM doesn’t recognize the published table, but that the figures listed on criminal statistics appear to match their own top ten. “Every year we have a top ten of punishable acts. We started this in 2003. Only the table in the advertisement is not so clear.” If the numbers have dropped because fewer crimes have actually been committed is also difficult to say, according to Arends-Croes. “Take driving without a license, the numbers can also drop because the police controlled more one year than the other.” The chance of being caught is then higher, but that doesn’t mean that either more or fewer people were driving without their license, the spokesperson for the OM explained.

.Perhaps your summary would be helpful to the Office of the OM. How can they claim their crime stats have dropped when they were claiming no crime in the first place?

Seems the Police Union may well be aware of crimes that are not being included. Does this list the number of murders for that has previously been strangely missing from stats?

Well, for the first time, there seems to be some sort of accounting of crimes. We could never find any statistics before and I believe were even told crime was so low they didn't keep them. Now Maryanne Croes seems to indicate that there are in fact statistics.

Perhaps we can get a translation of some more of those listings but I still do not believe I see one for the number of deaths by homicide. Odd one to leave out considering the rate is so high.

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#13 MsMarple,Tremendous job by the Monkeys and should be required reading for all. It is not the fact that Aruba has crime as much as the fact that they lie about it so that no one ever knows what the real crime factor is.

They actually had a spokesperson addressing travel agents claiming one murder in the last twenty years if you can believe anybody could be that far off! Sounds like something Kelmal would claim, haha!

Six murders last year alone puts their rate higher than in the U.S. per capita. And isn’t it odd that just when the monkeys start checking on this, they issue statements. Before one couldn’t find any of this stuff.

No, we did NOT know the crime was so high, Kelmel. Drugs are everywhere that is a given but Aruba lied and told us they had no crime. They even said at the beginning of this investigation that the reason they botched it so is they never have anything like this to investigate. What a load that is. They have it but they may not investigate it is right.

Well, Interpol is onto them with one of the deaths they ruled as natural causes and the family got another autopsy and the real cause was strangulation. Now I wonder about Robert Benson. Did they lie about him as well??

Yes, Nadira was right. They ALL lie! At least the Officials do. Tell me one who has told us nothing but the truth?? Just one???

And that is the point, not the actual statistics but the lying about their crime. Maybe we need a Class Action suit for their false adversing.

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The National Association of Commissioned Travel Agents1101 King Street, Suite 200Alexandria, VA 22314703-739-6826

This is a long message. I beg you to bear with me and read it through.

I am among many individuals who have followed the Natalee Holloway disappearance on Aruba – I am sure you are familiar with the subject. I read and post on several internet forums, primarily http://www.scaredmonkeys.net .

A column by David Grossman, a travel writer for USAToday, recently stated that Aruba had had "one murder in 20 years". The column subsequently has been edited (due, I think, to reaction from folks like me). He was quoting from a speech by Dr. Peter Tarlow at a tourism or travel agents meeting. Here is a link to the column as it now stands; notice the Editors Note at the beginning, and the current reference to “a handful of murders a year,” which is not the original wording: http://tinyurl.com/mg6ju .

(Of course, "a handful" of murders is hardly a good recommendation. That handful exceeds the murder rate in the U.S. Read on.)

As a result of that original “1 in 20” statement, at the “scared monkeys” site, we began a new thread called Murder & Crime Rate in Aruba. We are collaborating on a list of murders and other violent crimes that have occurred there. Here is a link to the beginning of that discussion: http://tinyurl.com/fau6z .

Our purpose is to show that Aruba deliberately and officially obscures violent crimes in the interest of tourism. For example, we believe that at least seven (7) murders (counting Miss Holloway) occurred in 2005. That’s considerably higher than the ratio touted to the travel industry – “one in 20 years,” “2.4 per year” are figures I have read. In fact, it is higher than the murder rate for the United States, according to FBI just-released statistics for the year 2005. (Link provided below.)

And more important, we believe that the deception alone constitutes good reason for Aruba to be on the U.S. State Department travel warning list, and for travel agents to make certain potential travelers are aware of the facts, as opposed to what Aruba "promotes". (We have sent our information to the State Department.)

Because what it means is that if serious harm comes your way, Aruba Law Enforcement -- with official blessing – will try to write that incident off as a suicide, accident, or other non-nefarious cause. Unless there’s relentless pressure from the victim’s family and a media blitz, they’ll get away with it.

As recently as Spring 2006, the Polis Chief stated that he believed Miss Holloway died from an accidental, self-induced overdose. He did not speculate as to what she then did with her corpse.

You can imagine how difficult it is to pull this information together. We are trying to read online versions of local newspapers, but most of them are not in English – Dutch, Papiamento, and Spanish are the local languages. (If you have ever tried “babblefish” or similar as a translator, you know what we’re going through … especially with Papiamento, which is the language for Diario, which has the largest circulation.) We only began this particular endeavor recently, and back issues are not readily available to us.

We initially only were looking for reported murders, but lately are suspicious about suicides, accidents, and other seemingly non-nefarious deaths. We have a recent Diario article suggesting that some cases deemed to be suicides during the last 20 years may have been due to foul play.

Diario 1/6/2006 article (excerpts):

Quote

High Command in Holland wants to conduct DNA tests on all suicide victims

Among other things, it is mentioned that with suicide cases, it is desired for all these cases, that DNA tests be conducted on the bodies. Two unsolved cases were illustrated, in the first instance the victim committed suicide but it resulted later after the test, that this was not the case

.

Here is another example: on April 5, 2006, a man’s body was found near a cave. His body was crucified, burned, and otherwise unspeakably mutilated. This death was ruled a suicide or overdose, but “evidence has been sent to Holland for testing”. Admittedly I have not seen an outcome, but “evidence to Holland” has become an ominous joke to followers of the Holloway case. Meanwhile – what about the timely investigation that should have been underway?

Amigoe June 8 2006 article (excerpts):

Quote

ARUBA — Dinesh ‘Pitbull’ Djoegan had died of overdoses cocaine. At this moment, the Public Prosecutor (OM) does not have evidence that the 25-year old man that was found dead in the vicinity of the Guadirikiri cave on April 5th was murdered. Four suspects have been arrested and the examining magistrate has prolonged the custody of one of them with 8 days. On Tuesday, Pitbull’s widow and her mother had talked with the district attorney, who leads the investigation on the death of Djoegan. The OM does not comment on the contents of this conversation. All they said was that in order to determine the cause of death, they had to send tests to the Netherlands. The family was informed that Pitbull was not murdered, but had an amount of cocaine in his body. There is a possibility that he was forced to take the drug. The OM is also investigating the relation between the cause of death and the fact that Djoegan was found burned and crucified.

We have another article re. a ship passenger who died on board. When the ship docked at Aruba, an autopsy suggested that death was due to natural causes. But when the body was returned to the man’s home country, another autopsy revealed that he had been strangled, and that there were visible indications of violence. The good news is that as a High Seas death, Interpol is investigating. The bad news is that, partly as a result of Aruba’s misdiagnosis, precious time was wasted. I am betting that the ship and/or its crew are closely connected to Aruba.

Diario 3/20/2006 article (excerpts):

Quote

ORANJESTAD (AAN): It seems that in Aruba, authorities immediately ‘guli manda abao’ [swallowed?] the story of the crew members of the ‘Rachel S’ ship, which arrived in Aruba the Sunday of Carnaval Grandi with a dead person on board. There is a big possibility that the crew members ‘played a comedy’ which apparently turned bad, to cover up a possible crime that was committed on board. The autopsy conducted in Aruba deduced that Bernard Ramsaran, 50 years of age, died of heart failure. But now, an autopsy conducted in his country of Trinidad & Tobago, has deduced that Bernard died of something more sinister, ‘traumatic asphyxia’, which indicates that [he] was strangled and choked! His death is nothing natural! It is a crime which took place on the high seas and now Interpol is involved. The question is, how could Aruban authorities not discover this? The Trinidad & Tobago authorities discovered that Bernard’s body even had several marks of violence.

There is every indication that corruption is entrenched at high and low levels of government. “Recreational” drugs are illegal on Aruba, but are available in abundance and overlooked. According to the C.I.A. World Factbook, Aruba is a “transit point for US- and Europe-bound narcotics with some accompanying money-laundering activity.” (Drugs are not illegal in Holland.) Now, drug availability may be a reason for some tourists to choose Aruba. But drug traffic on this scale, combined with the casinos, and money laundering, invites criminal activity and corruption.

Don’t get me started on the prostitution, pornography and sex-slave angles (including child porn). Suffice it to say that many are convinced that this is what happened to Miss Holloway. They compare her to 1998 cruise passenger Amy Bradley, who some believe to have been abducted into the sex industry.

The clubs and casinos do not enforce age restrictions re. alcohol and gambling, for tourists or locals. When local kids are gambling away a few hundred dollars, and spending maybe $25-$50 on alcohol, several nights a week, one wonders where their money is coming from. They seem to roam the clubs and casinos in packs; some don’t even have a driver’s license yet. I wouldn't want to spend a vacation in another country surrounded by local gangs of teenagers.

All of this -- on an island of less than 100,000 population. While some like to compare the U.S. murder rate to that of Aruba (which is whatever Aruba decides to say it is), FBI statistics show that Aruba compares poorly.

Although I am not expert as to Aruba’s political standing, I perceive that it is more than less independent from The Netherlands (unlike Bonaire and Curaçao). There is no pressure, martial law, FBI or similar outside intervention available - no accountability.

Those who dismiss the Natalee Holloway story as “another missing white girl” have no idea what reality is on the ground in Aruba. This is NOT like most media sensations. The investigation was inept by any country’s law enforcement standards, but Aruba neither acknowledges that or attempts to correct it. Further, I think as much official energy has been expended trashing the victim and her family, as on the investigation.

Please do not ignore the many things that are very wrong on that one happy island. U.S. travelers may still choose to go to Aruba, but if they perform due diligence, please don’t give them the wrong impression.

For a summary of our findings on murder in Aruba, look for this heading:Summary - Murder & Crime on Aruba -Most Recent Year first as of 9/15/2006 at this link (page 6):http://tinyurl.com/zjmaz .

For FBI 2005 statistics on murder in the United States, look for this heading:U.S. 2005 Statistics - Murder and Non-Negligent Manslaughter at this link (page 7); links to the FBI tables are there:http://tinyurl.com/gaoef .

Also on that page, Page 7, is a translation of an ad the Aruba travel promoters recently ran in local papers. The purpose of the ad was to show how little crime, and reduction in crime figures over four years. No homicides are mentioned. See the Page 7 posts for 9/21/2006 at 6:52 a.m. and 9:15 a.m. We have now learned that the Aruba police union is disputing those figures, and claiming the crime rate has increased rather than decreased. For more about the dispute, see the post on Page 7, at 9/29/2006, 8:30 a.m.